Differences They Share
by AiriKatsu
Summary: Small Fics that have to do with Freya and Amarant. Light FreyaXAmarant, first story takes place in the Fire Shrine, second on the Airship, maybe more...


Katori: Wow, this is old, but I decided to re-write it down from the paper I wrote it on. I may have two more little snippets that happened between the two but here's the first installment!  
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It felt as though she was trying to breathe underwater, the only problem was that the supposed 'water' was cooking her alive. Her head was pounding ferociously in her skull, her guess was from the lack of oxygen in the humid and smothering air. Each step they took down the narrow passageway only brought more discomfort to her and she tried to take in a large gulp of air to calm herself.

She regretted in not taking off her jacket and leaving it behind as Zidane had suggested. But to hell if she was going to let Amarant have another reason to tell her to get her 'furry ass' out to the deck so they could get off.

She estimated that they were nearing the centre of the place, they were at a steady incline and she was sure that she had seen strange markings on the wall a few minutes ago. If anything they were an indication to their direction or distance traveled.

The torches created small beacons of light in the darkness, but those only seemed to aggravate her more as she could have sworn that it got hotter even more so when she passed them. It was probably warm enough to cook Daggar down there, the thought was repressed as soon as it popped into her mind. She didn't want to imagine the princess with charred flesh, as sick to her stomach as she already was.

The man beside her barely looked bothered by the heat, in fact, he never really looked bothered by ANYTHING. One would think that even after his muscle shirt and claw attached to his arm, he would at LEAST be sweating buckets with those heavy looking trousers on!

Damn the man for having immunity to heat, damn him and the fire Gods to the pits of nothingness.

Suddenly there was an impatient sigh from her side and a huge muscular arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her back. She watched as a pillar of flames erupted from where she had just stood and understood the reason why Amarant had grabbed her.

That would have been very unpleasant to be burnt to a crisp all because of her stupidity and wandering mind. Oh wonderful, now the Flaming Amarant thought she was an idiot who couldn't look after herself. It wasn't like it was HER fault; it was Zidane; him and his stupid setting her up with the assassin brute.

Was the heat making her irritable? Most likely, she knew she was acting rather childish and decided it would be rude to not thank the man for saving her 'furry ass'.

Her thank you consisted of her spinning around and nodding in acknowledgement for his kind deed.

"Apparently there are traps," He deadpanned, walking by her and continuing on his way as if nothing had happened and he didn't see her nod.

Freya fumed, "_Apparently_! I almost got barbequed and you say; 'Apparently there are _traps_?" She seethed out, coming to the conclusion that she could hardly stand the man; let alone act civilized around him.

Amarant turned towards her in seeing that she wasn't fallowing behind him as he expected her to, and raised his red bushy eyebrow at her. In Freya's mind it was if he was trying to mock her, she began shaking the thought from her head. She knew she was being childish; why did the man have such a negative effect on her? She needed to pull herself together, in chance that they ran into any more traps.

"Is something wrong rat?" He asked, that annoying eyebrow still raised.

"No," Freya used her years of experience to hide the annoyance in her voice and keep it toneless. She had always been good at masking her true emotions, it was something she had trained herself to do since very young.

The silence continued for a long time until Freya's senses picked up a slight click in the tile below her; a sense of dread shot up her form and she jumped back instantly, satisfied when the wave of fire extinguished itself and she was left unharmed. Amarant didn't even twitch, he simply waited until the flames had dispersed and then continued on his way. Freya fallowed suit and busied herself with looking on the walls for any more of those signs. Suddenly, another soft 'click' was heard to her immediate left and she jumped back again, this time it was Amarant who had set it off. Unfortunately, there was barely any room to move away from the flames, so he had to step back and stumbled a bit, nearly catching his shirt on fire.

After a moment of tense silence, Freya steadied herself and glanced over at the bounty hunter to make sure he was alright.

"Two people can't fit in this passage," He observed, straightening out to his normal, in Freya's opinion –Horrible-, posture.

"What would you prefer? For myself to carry you on my back?" She responded, a slight smile placed itself on her lips and she watched as he stared at her; his expression a mixture of amusement and placidness.

But she saw the logic in his words, it would be foolish to move side by side, and if one stepped on a tile, they would end up toppling over the other in an attempt to jump back. She pondered their situation and suddenly became aware of Amarant's impatient sigh and his advancing footsteps.

Dread seized her.

"What are you- Amarant! What in the name of- PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Without a care, the flaming coral slung the burmecian over his shoulder and bounded off down the path. "You-! DAMNIT!" The threat fell from her tongue and she admitted defeat gracefully.

Why did she have to be stuck with the stiff, intimidating one? Not to get her wrong; SHE herself had been called intimidating once before and it wasn't like she was actually anxious around the teammate.

But this was different, **_very _**different; LAST time she had been called that was when it was an enemy soldier who was on the wrong end of a very sharp pike.

There were huge differences about the two predicaments. First of all, that had been during a useless attack on the throne of Burmecia, in which she had single-handedly taken down the pitiful soldiers. Second of all, the man who was carrying her probably would think nothing of dropping her into a pool of molten lava, and THIRDLY last time she had been outside, in the cool and wonderful rain… not being cooked alive by air that was so hard to breathe it was making her turn into a pouty four year old.

Did she fail to mention she was slung over his shoulder like a sac of potatoes?

Isn't life just grand…?

The great Dragoon knight Freya Crescent had been reduced to being carried by a bounty hunter and acting like an infant. What would Fratley say if he saw her now; she knew damn well what Zidane would do….. he'd _laugh._

Which brought her back to her predicament about how much she hated Amarant and his stupid silences, rudeness, strong muscles, mane of hair that looked like a mop….

Yes, she hated him with a living and breathing passion,

Yet, there was something about him, or even the way she acted around him that surprised her. She had hated many people before but no one had ever made her act like the way she was acting right now. She usually was icy and distant t5o them; not cracking jokes and trying to impress them. It was as if she was acting like a love struck school girl-

What little of color that had been left in Freya's face drained out of it in the instant she thought that. She growled in annoyance to this new set of aggrivating thoughts and then inwardly cursed as the man carrying her stiffened.

"What is it Freya? You seem a bit uncomfortable…" There was definitely humor in his voice and as if to annoy her more he shifted her up onto his shoulder more.

"I dunno, ever been hauled around like a sac of vegetables?" She retorted, almost forgetting all about her earlier thoughts, "Say Amarant…" she paused and waited for his attention, "We've been at a steady decline with all but falling rocks and pillars of fire in our way; don't you think this is a BIT too easy?"

There was silence, in which Freya noticed the gradual slowing of his pace, he dropped her to the ground and continued to look forward. She turned her gaze in that direction and saw the treasure they had been looking for; behind a snake-woman monster.

"My thoughts exactly Rat, my thoughts exactly…."

"I am Maliris, I protect the Fire Shrine and it's treasure! Neither of you will exit this Shrine Alive!" She hissed venomously, she hunched over reminding Freya of those serpent monsters in Gizamaluke's Grotto that confuse men.

Except she knew this one was going to be a definite challenge…

The Fire serpent, Maliris, dove for the two of them and Freya left to her left and saw Amarant go to the right, grunting as he just barely landed on his hunches. Maliris decided to leap for Freya first after her temporary falter, she Dragoon Knight quickly swiped at her and then jumped back; chanting a quick Reis's Wind to cast upon herself and Amarant. The cool wind hit Freya and she cursed herself for not casting the spell sooner; it made a delectable chill run down her spine.

Amarant took this time to slash at the snake as she was busy focused on his comrade. A shrill scream echoed into the hot depths of the shrine and the snake-like woman recoiled from her new gash in her tail. She hissed at the Flaming Coral and then quickly switched tactics and cast a fire spell at him.

"Cherry Blossoms!" Shouted Freya, finally completing the spell that Amarant had allowed her to chant. The dragon sprouted up underneath the serpent and she shrieked once more, lashing out at the Burmecian with her tail. She didn't have time to move out of the way and in turn was swept away, making contact with the hard wall.

She quickly threw a potion on herself and rolled out of the way of the next attack. Already breathing unevenly from the sudden change in the battle, she jumped high in the air, waiting until the opportune moment before throwing it down upon the demon.

Amarant grumbled as Freya slammed into the wall, he slashed at her a few times before she could attack the rat woman again and then jumped back before Freya could hit him with the damn pike.

"Damn it Freya! You tryin' to kill me!" He yelled across the room as he narrowly escaped from the attack that could have caused another hole in his body.

"Well you aren't dead, are you!" she called back, diving in to gather her weapon before the enemy could hit her again.

The two landed gracefully beside each other and then dispersed again, the snake was on a rampage and barely noticed the damage she was doing to the shrine, it was as if Freya had cast Luna on her.

She swiped her tail across the floor, causing Freya and Amarant to jump high into the air in order to miss being swatted like a couple of flies. The enemy then began to throw fire spell after fire spell after the two. Freya could feel her health depleting as another fira spell hit her full force. She stumbled back and shot off towards her right, hoping not to get hit once more.

Suddenly the air was filled with silence, aside from the heavy breathing of all three beings in the room. The air began to fill with a purple substance around the monster, Freya watched in horror as she began to charge in Amarant's direction.

"Don't just stand there! MOVE!" Screamed Freya as the red-headed friend was statuesque, hardly twitching at all until the power became an almost unbearably large amount.

Suddenly Freya found herself running towards the still friend, she lept forward and tried to get as close as possible to attack it.

Freya realized her mistake before the snake even bothered to spin it out at her.

"THAT'S EXACTALLY WHAT I WANTED YOU TO DO!" Without further to do, the demon threw the poison at Freya and watched smugly as the Rat became immersed in it.

Freya felt the strength leaving her even with the constant recovery of her Reis' Wind, the attack had pretty much sealed her doom; one spell was healing her, and another was slowly taking away what part of her that had been healed and a bit more each time.

With all the strength she could muster she gripped her pike and slammed it into the Fire Shrine Guardian, slicing through her abdomen and draining more then three fourths of her remaining strength.

She looked over at Amarant as she slowly stated to black out, he was rushing towards the two of them; a berserker glint in his eye.

"One…..more…… attack," With that Freya Crescent took a final breath before falling to the floor, chest first and not moving.

'What a way to die,' she thought with a sigh as her health took it's last few moments, 'And knowing Amarant he would probably leave me here to die, feh, I wouldn't put my life in his hands even if I had another chance!' Her breathing was horrible and she felt a little strength come to her, she knew that one more poison effect would kill her. 'Well, he IS a heartless killer, it's not like leaving me to rot down here would phase him at all, arrogant asshole…' she heaved in a final breath, 'I'll haunt him in the afterlife, see how you like THAT Flaming Coral!'

Darkness swept over her and after a few moments realizing tat she wasn't breathing anymore, she felt a nice cool wind sweep around her and a white light envelope her. She had fainted a few timed before, but she had always known her friends would heal her. She could just hear Zidane screaming: 'DON'T GO INTO THE LIGHT FREYA!' Too late for that, does it count as giving up if the light comes to you?

Amarant hadn't made it to the Burmecian in time to stop her from fainting, but he had made it in time to finish off the fucking snake bitch. He sliced through the viper and then watched as she withered in pain and ten slowly faded away; her piercing scream annoying his sensitive ears. He slowly limped over to Freya and watched as she heaved in ragged breaths on the floor, he called out her name, but after a moment; noticed she hadn't heard her.

He quickly threw a antidote on her and watched as she was caught in a green light, he held his breath and then let it out in a string of vulgar curses. He had been too late to stop her from fainting.

"Revive!" He called out, dropping to his knees as that drained what little of magic he had left.

She had fought the light; she honestly had! But it was too bright for her, she felt as though she broke the surface of water and was gasping for air greedily. She looked up, squinting from the light and came face to face with Amarant Coral. She groaned for two reasons; 1 being that he had died and not beaten the Snake, and 2 that Zidane had been counting on them to get the damned mirror.

"Not you too! Now Zidane will never get the mirror," she whined in a slightly ragged voice.

The man taking in slow calming breaths gave her that look that suggested you had grown 5 heads and sprouted a horn or something.

"What are you talking about now Crescent!" He replied breathily, staring down at her from underneath his mop of red hair.

Freya smirked, "Now that we're dead, I got to tell you, that red bush you call 'hair' really looks like a soiled mop end."

Amarant switched that look he was giving her to a very convincing glare and growled underneath his breath. He replied, although, he didn't say the retort Freya had been expecting. Instead he stood up and yanked her to her feet with surprising strength for someone who had just been breathing so irregularly a second before.

"The Fuck? To we LOOK like we're in Heaven or whatever the hell it is 'The Holy Land' Crescent?"

Freya quirked an eyebrow and looked around at her surroundings; they were still in the Fire Shrine! They were both ragged and looking like they had been run over by a load of Quinta's but they were alive! That meant that-

"Wait a minute, you actually _HEALED_ me?"

He slapped his big bulky hand to his forehead, "What'dcha think I was gonna do? Leave her here to rot, mousey?"

She stared at him, not trusting her voice to answer, her answer was quite clear in her silence. He rolled his eyes at her and walked over to grab the mirror without a second thought. After a slight tremor he grabbed her again, this time he shoved the mirror into her arms. She stared down at it, as if she wasn't quite sure if she was actually alive still, he grunted again and picked her up, this time bridal style, and bounded off down the path once more.

"W-wait, you're hurt!" She choked out, suddenly feeling rather apprehensive, She looked for the scratches littered across his strong arms and found quite a few. "You need to be healed before you strain yourself!" She scolded him as they dodged yet another eruption of flames.

"Shit Freya, heal me AFTER he get out of this damned Hell-hole," He responded with natural Amarant charm and continued to climb up the incline out of the supposed falling apart 'Hell-hole'.

He dodged another falling rock and she squeezed the mirror close to her chest, she was actually rather surprised that amaranth was quick on his feet, not as quick as her mind you, but quick enough to dance around hurting rocks and flames that sprouted from the ground after a split second of being activated.

Freya let the smile spread across her face as light came into view at the top of the tunnel and sighed in absolute bliss when they came from the scorching hot tunnel and out into the more breathable air. She looked up to see her companion with a similar expression on his face, she grinned up at him and he returned it.

"Fuck yes! We're outta there!" Freya was certain he would have done a dance if he hadn't noticed her presence there, she quickly set to taking out the few Hi-Potions she had packed away and walked over to him.

She gave him two and then settled on gulping hack one herself and felt the effects immediately begin to happen. Her sore and tired limbs were tolerable again and that ache between her ears wasn't so bad. All minor scrapes and bruises were gone and she took in a deep, long, cleansing breath.

It was only a few minutes before Freya was sitting far off to the entrance of the cave with Amarant beside her, the shrine had collapsed, and Freya felt like waving bye to it in mocking, but resisted the childish urge. She blamed her behavior on Amarant once more and looked over him, making sure that he wasn't bleeding too heavily.

"What are you starrin' at Crescent?"

Freya smirked, he had set himself up once more, "At a moron, who quite frankly has the most vulgar language I have ever been had the displeasure of meeting," She replied quickly, not passing up the chance to get him back for the constant 'Rat' quips.

Amarant took one look at her, and she challenged his gaze. Waiting for the war of insults to ensue. His lips twitched and suddenly, the Burmecian knight felt hers doing the same, and in to time at all, they were both laughing whole-heartedly.

As if on cue, they heard the roar of the Airship overhead Freya could see Eiko, Zidane, Quinta, and Dagger waving down at them.

Amarant blinked and looked over at his newly respected partner, "Hey Crescent," He had settled on the less degrading nickname a little while ago and decided to stick with it, "What was that you said before about my hair?"

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Katori: Finally Done! I hope all AmarantXFreya lovers like this, fluffy and light to be sure but maybe I'll deepen their companionship in later ficlets.


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